1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing device with an ejection head maintenance function, and to a method of controlling the printing device.
2. Related Art
Printing devices that have a recovery means for ejecting fluid in the ejection head to the outside to restore the fluid ejection performance of the ejection head, and control the recovery means according to how the user uses the printing device, are known from the literature. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2009-066849. This printing device (printer) detects how frequently the power turns on/off, the print count, and the most frequent types of printing (monochrome or color printing) as indicators of how the user uses the printer, and based on the detected results changes the frequency of the recovery operation performed by the recovery means, and the type of fluid used in the recovery operation.
The recovery operation that restores the ejection performance of the ejection head by discharging fluid from the ejection head to the outside requires a specific amount of fluid, and a large amount of fluid may therefore be consumed by operations other than printing. Printers with an ejection head maintenance function ideally minimize fluid consumption by non-printing operations. However, because the printer cannot check confirm the actual ejection status of the ejection head before performing the recovery operation, the recovery operation that discharges fluid from the ejection head may be performed even though there is no problem with the ejection head and the recovery operation is unnecessary. In other words, fluid is consumed more than required by non-printing operations.